


Unified

by TheOtherSarahJane



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Drabble, M/M, Sappy, Sibling Incest, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-13
Updated: 2013-08-13
Packaged: 2018-01-07 19:58:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1123784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheOtherSarahJane/pseuds/TheOtherSarahJane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prussia and Germany have always been close, but after the fall of the Berlin Wall, it's become something deeper--but what, exactly?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unified

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Stronger Than Marriage](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/33821) by Anonymous. 



> Fair warning: absolutely ridiculous amounts of sap ahead. Also, this was meant to take place at a time in which the line between "brothers" and "lovers" was very blurred--hence the nighttime cuddles. (Also, if anyone happens to know who wrote the KM fill this was inspired by, I'd love to know so I can credit them.)

Prussia lay on his side in the tangled sheets, pale limbs going every which way as he enjoyed a moment of peace. Behind him, he felt something big stir, and a second later West’s sturdy arms encircled his torso from behind and pulled him in until their bodies were touching. Gilbert let out a small snort of laughter.

“West, you’re so sappy,” he teased, but didn’t protest as the larger man rested his face in the warm curve of Prussia’s neck. West merely grunted a response, clearly close to sleep, and Prussia smiled to himself and closed his eyes. A century ago he never would have had this kind of moment, he thought dimly. The idea of being this close to anyone, allowing himself to fall asleep with his back turned to someone who could so easily injure him, kill him or betray him would have been nothing but asking for death, in his mind. He was never one to form alliances on such a personal level. Alliances were for watching your back against a common enemy; they were insurance, in case you ran into trouble fighting someone on your own. They were calculated, symbiotic arrangements.

But what he and West had wasn’t an alliance, not to either of them (though he knew West had a slightly different picture in his mind of what alliances were, thanks to a certain Italian friend). It went farther than that, always had. They had always been brothers, obviously, ever since Prussia took him in, but ever since the Wall had come down, the bond running between them had begun to seep down deeper into each of them, eroding the barriers separating them and flowing even thicker than blood. Prussia didn’t really know what it was or what to call it. Already dozing off, his wandering mind began to search and grasp for the right word, but found only small memories. 

Like throwing his arm around West’s shoulders and telling him to come to bed before he killed himself from overwork, and the secretly reassuring knowledge that most of the time he complied. Or snaking an arm around his waist while he was cooking breakfast and telling him (regardless of what he was making) that he should be making pancakes, but always eating whatever it was anyway, because he’d done a damn fine job raising him and the man could cook, no matter what the Italies said.

West chastising him for sleeping without a blanket, because he might catch a cold and it wasn’t good for his health. (He could lecture about anything, Prussia marvelled every time it happened, but he always complied eventually because some part of him felt the sincerity behind it.) West going out to pick up his favorite brand of beer whenever seeing Hungary with that fop bastard got to be a little too much and he just needed a good drink. 

West’s arms holding him close as they lay together in bed many nights, each secretly reassured by the other’s presence, because no matter how often alliances changed they always stuck with each other in the end, and always would in the future, because when their people had become one, Prussia felt, so had they, even if it had taken a couple of decades for it to feel complete.

Yes, they were definitely more than brothers. They were something… something…

“West,” Prussia said quietly, breaking the long, sleepy silence. He felt West stir a little against him, startled out of his almost-sleep, and his prominent nose brushed against Prussia’s cheek pleasantly as he turned a little to address him.

“Mmm?” Was all he managed, his lips still pressed closed against Prussia’s neck.

“What are we?” Prussia asked, trying and failing to blink sleep out of his eyes. West was silent for a moment.

“…hell kind of question is that?” Eventually floated up from behind him, in a sleepier version of a voice West typically reserved for Italy’s more baffling moments. Prussia would have shaken his head if it weren’t lying heavily on the pillow.

“No, stupid,” he murmured. “I mean…what are we to each other? What am I to you?”

Silence for a few more seconds, then West slowly raised his head up, and Prussia turned and found two blue eyes staring at him like he was out of his mind and it was too damn late for this. God West was so thick sometimes. (Then again, maybe it would have been better to ask when they weren’t falling asleep…no, no, West was definitely just an idiot.) 

Prussia turned onto his back to look at him more directly.

“I mean…” he tried again. “What do you call…this?”

He touched West’s strong arms, still holding his torso, and let his hands migrate up his shoulders and down to West’s solid waist in a show of tenderness he wouldn’t have been capable of half a century ago.

“I mean, we’re brothers, we always have been, but…this, what we have now, it’s different, isn’t it? Brothers don’t do…what we do now. Sleeping together, all this hugging and touching…” he brought a hand up to curl around the back of West’s neck, a finger catching a stray lock of blonde hair and playing with it. “So if we’re not just brothers, what are we?” he finished rather lamely, looking lost.

Finally, the question seemed to register in West’s mind somewhat, and he frowned a little in confusion.

“I don’t know,” he answered slowly. “I’ve never read about this in any of my books.”

Prussia snorted. “You would think about books and manuals for something like this,” he smirked slightly, and West flushed, recalling the last time he’d tried to figure out his relationship to someone with a book.

“Well…” he tried to defend himself. “Our situation is not exactly common…”

“I know that, stupid, but what is our situation?”

West spent another few moments lost in thought, the flush gradually leaving his face as he began to deliberate out loud.

“Well…” he began. “You are my brother, yes, you raised me, and I am indebted to you for that…but aside from that, we share a home, we share quite a bit of history, we share a people…” at that, he shifted his hand and lay the back of it against Prussia’s chest, as if to feel the thrum of his citizens, living and dying and giving birth and continuing strong despite hardships so much bigger than them. They no longer called themselves Prussian or East German, generally, but they were still there, beneath Prussia’s skin. But now they belonged to him too.

“We share all these things,” he continued slowly, “more than anything we’ve ever shared with any other nation, and I feel like…” he paused and flushed, suddenly awkward. “…like even though you irritate the hell out of me sometimes, you’re a part of me, and my life, and I’ll always want you here.”

For a few seconds Ludwig averted Prussia’s eyes, seemingly unsure of what to do or say after such an uncharacteristically emotional speech.

“Yeah, well, you’re pretty damn annoying too, sometimes,” Prussia finally spoke. “And you also didn’t answer my question.” 

“I don’t know,” Ludwig said, turning heavily over onto his back. “I’m no expert on these matters. I suppose if you looked at it as most nations would, our relationship is almost like a married couple’s.”

“What?” Came the accusatory reply.

“Well, we’re separate physically, but we share one nation and people,” Ludwig rushed to defend himself. “We live together, we share what we have, we…”

He swallowed. “We love each other,” he said in a very small voice, then gave Prussia a look that was almost fearful and very, very bashful. Prussia blinked and yawned to give himself a valid reason for the tears that were now welling up in his eyes (which he blinked back anyway) and reached over to muss West’s hair.

“You’re so fucking sappy, West,” he murmured, smiling despite himself, then turning on his side to face his brother. West’s face was still turned to him, still with that “please don’t let me have said something wrong” look on his face. It was a little pathetic, but somehow Prussia found it fucking adorable at that moment, and without thinking he put a hand on West’s flushed cheek, leaned in and kissed him firmly on the lips.

When he pulled away after a few seconds, the fear and embarassment on West’s face had been replaced by wide-eyed surprise. It was pretty damn funny, Prussia had to admit, and he started snickering to himself, though his laugh held none of its usual bite. Seconds later, though, West’s hand was on the back of his head and he was pulled in for another kiss, a little fearful but not hesitant. They lingered longer this time before separating, then West turned on his side to face Prussia and they let their heads rest on the pillows, their foreheads touching. A quiet moment passed as they allowed what had just happened to sink in. 

“So,” West mumbled, voice tinged with timidity and awkwardness. “I suppose now we do have a different kind of relationship.”

“Yeah,” Prussia agreed, himself a little sheepish. “Brothers don’t really do that, huh.” He let out a nervous laugh. "I guess they don't sleep together at night either, though, so mabe we should have known..."

An awkward silence settled in, West’s arms still holding Prussia around the middle, Prussia’s hands still resting on West’s torso.

“We’re not fucking married, though.” Prussia’s voice cut through the pleasant reverie. West blinked, and Prussia continued.

“I’m not married to anyone, not even you, West,” he asserted. “Marriage is what that fop bastard does. It means you’re too weak to stand on your own, and I’m not that. Neither of us are. I raised you better than that, and you’ve become a damn fine nation. Neither of us needs to marry anybody.” He paused. “Or if we do, we sure as hell don’t need to call it that.”

West’s brows drew together thoughtfully again, and after a minute or two of pensive thought he spoke.

“We’re not married, then,” he agreed. “But we are two people united as one nation, so maybe we’re…” he searched for the right word. Bonded? United? His mind thought back to when they had first found each other after decades of separation, among a flood of people running and a wall destroyed, and the day East Germany was officially no more, but his brother had remained there with him nonetheless, to slowly become his over the next 20 years. German Reunification Day.

“Unified,” he said suddenly. “Two nations—two companions—that joined together to become stronger. More than just an alliance. For many years to come.” He took Prussia’s hand and laced their fingers together. Prussia smiled.

“Unified,” he repeated. “Forever.” He chuckled again to himself, a laugh free of arrogance or mischief or malice. “I like that.”

West smiled, reassured. “Good,” he murmured, closing his eyes as Prussialeaned in for one more lingering, loving kiss.

When they separated, Prussia slowly turned back over to the way he had originally been laying, with his back to his companion, reached behind him until he found his brother’s arms, and wrapped them around him again. West took the hint and moved in close so their bodies were touching at every point, again burying his face in the warmth of Prussia’s neck.

“Guten nacht, bruder,” West murmured.

“Guten nacht,” Prussia murmured back. “And if you tell anyone I got so damn sappy with you I’ll kill you, unified or not.”

They both felt a small start as West let out a snort of laughter.

“Same for you, brother,” he whispered, pressing a kiss to Prussia’s neck. “I love you.”

“…so fuckin’ sappy, West…”

Prussia’s words were slurred, and within moments, the two had fallen asleep next to each other, their breaths soft and measured and soon locked onto the same rhythm, so that their shoulders and chests rose and fell as one.


End file.
